Fonterenza Bianco Le Ragazze 2023

Fonterenza Bianco Le Ragazze 2023, a Tuscan expression

In this skin-contact white, the fruit meets the texture of the skins and the time spent in aging. Fonterenza Bianco Le Ragazze 2023 appeals to me with its blend of Tuscan grape varieties, its orange wine profile and its notes of tangerine, white pepper and minerality. A bottle to choose if you like whites that take their time.

Monte Amiata, the Fonterenza estate and the IGT Toscana

This wine is produced by Fonterenza, an estate founded in 1997 by the twin sisters Margherita and Francesca Padovani. Their property covers four hectares farmed biodynamically, and the winery favors minimal intervention, with few sulfites and no oenological products. For Le Ragazze, however, the grapes come from plots belonging to a friend of the sisters, near Monte Amiata, not far from Montalcino. Located between 420 and 450 meters above sea level, they rest on marl, sandstone, quartzite and silt. The harvest is done by hand.

The 2023 vintage is classified as IGT Toscana Bianco and blends 50% Vermentino, 30% Trebbiano and 20% Malvasia. It is a skin-contact white wine, made from destemmed grapes pressed gently, then fermented in open vats. The Vermentino macerates separately with its skins for about a week; the other two varieties ferment together and macerate for about fourteen days. The wines then rest separately before blending. The blend ages ten months, partly in a 500-liter barrel and partly in a 200-liter terracotta amphora. Fonterenza produces a little over nine hundred bottles. The estate has been making this wine since 2017, and this cuvée is organic, vegan and made using a natural approach.

The available notes describe a complex and full-bodied wine, with aromas of tangerine, white pepper and minerals. Skin contact gives this white its orange wine character and a more assertive presence than a light white; the announced profile is also marked by expressive aromatics. I do not attribute to it any finer nuances than those reported, but these markers are enough to imagine a bottle where ripe fruit and spicy accents meet a mineral counterpoint. Serve with curiosity, letting the wine time to open up in the glass.

At the table, between smoky and delicate

I would happily pair it with smoked dishes, a risotto, or a white fish: three matches that are among the suggestions for this cuvée. With a risotto, its generous texture can accompany a creamy dish; alongside fish, the contrast between finesse and skin-contact maceration promises an interesting encounter. For a meal where you take the time to savor and compare sensations, Le Ragazze offers a great opportunity to step outside the usual white wine reference points. If you enjoy orange wines, save it a place at the table.